Plenty of Money on Both Sides of Oil Severance Tax Fight

Owen Poindexter|April 19, 2011

April 19, 2011 - According to John Howard at Capitol Weekly, Democrat Warren Furutani has introduced a bill (AB 1326) that "would establish a 12.5 percent severance tax on oil and natural gas, and set up an entity called the California Higher Education Fund, which distributes the proceeds to the University of California, the California State University and community colleges. His bill was scheduled to have its first major policy hearing on Wednesday, but Furutani withdrew the bill to make technical changes, his staff said, and a new hearing was scheduled for May 3."

According to the article, "[other] huge oil states – Texas and Alaska, for example – have oil severance taxes. Alaska has a progressive, 25 percent oil severance tax, the largest in the country, and some two-dozen states have severance taxes on oil, gas or both."

Of the 52 Democrats in the Assembly, 48 received more from supporting groups than opposing groups, from Jan. 1, 2009-Dec. 31, 2010. On the flip side, Assembly Republicans received more from opposing groups than supporting groups in the same period, with the two exceptions being Don Wagner, who received $2,450 in contributions from interest groups supporting the bill and $0 from interest groups opposing the bill, and Brian Jones, who received no contributions from either side. The bill's sponsor, Warren Furutani, has received $61,565 in contributions from interest groups supporting the bill, third most among all Assemblymembers, and no money from interest groups opposing the bill.

As a new tax, the bill will need a two-thirds majority vote to pass, meaning that the measure will need the support of at least two Republicans to clear a vote in front of the full Assembly. The bill is currently in the Higher Education Committee, which, with six Democrats and three Republicans, could adopt the measure on a party-line vote. Committee members are bolded on the list below.

Contributions to California Assemblymembers from Groups Supporting and Opposing AB 1326- Party Breakdown

Methodology: Includes reported contributions to campaigns of Assemblymembers in office during the 2011-2012 California State Legislature, from interest groups invested in the bill according to MAPLight.org, January 1, 2009 – December 31, 2010. California campaign contributions data source: National Institute on Money in State Politics.